Ciao again Readers!
I had so much fun blogging yesterday I think I’m ready to get back to it (and as an added bonus I get to do it while enjoying my Rosenberg’s Deli delivery here in my hotel room – yum!).

If you’re anything like me, you may have been (metaphorically) hiding in a cave the last few years. Looking back I can more clearly see what a toll it was taking on my mental health. As I mentioned in my last blog, on an evening walk in June I had the spontaneous idea and right then on my phone bought a ticket to see the Counting Crows on October 7 in Milan. Well, as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound! I decided to go back to my first Italian School, Madrelingua in Bologna, for the week before the concert. Since I haven’t travelled in so long I guessed, correctly, that I had enough miles to make the flights free (yay!). I have to admit, I was still pretty hyper vigilant and scared of traveling and almost cancelled many times….then, in August, my Covid turn came…I was sick, but not too bad, and the amazing thing was all that fear and hyper vigilance stored up in my system for over 2 years eased up – it felt like breathing after holding my breath for years – whew! Plus, as an added bonus, I figured I had extra immunity for my trip….so off I went!

Many times during the trip and after I commented that I did more and met more people in those 9 days than I had done in the 3 years prior, and I think that’s true! As you may know from your own experience or my blog, when you fly with miles you have to take what you can – I knew there was very little chance my outward trip would go smoothly with all the transfers and short connections – but ya know what – I learned a great new skill for traveling – just assume every thing will go wrong – when it does you won’t be upset, and when something goes right you’ll be excited! True, I missed my connection to Milan in Munich, but ya know what – I got to chillax and have a delicious dinner in Munich (well, the airport) (and add a new country to my list), and when they finally found me a flight to Italy, it was going to Bologna – where I was actually trying to go (I was going to take a train from Milan)! From that point on, the trip was pretty amazing…here’s what I did, pretty much in order….

I was welcomed to my apartment in Bologna by the owner, Laura, with a plate of amazing food from a dinner party; the next day I enjoyed fresh (off menu) porcini pasta in a local place I accidentally found when all the recommended places were packed; that afternoon I walked the town for hours with Laura and her friends. On Monday I started language school full of students from all over the world – such an interesting and joyful group! Monday evening I did the 5 hour “Delicious Bologna” tour complete with interesting folks and amazing food! Tuesday school was closed for the Saint of Bologna day, so I headed to Ravenna to see the famous mosaics, which I have somehow missed all these years (and, as an added bonus, Ravenna is close to the sea)! The rest of the week included school, meals and apperativo with classmates, and a multicultural dinner with Laura, opera singers from Japan, and more delicious food and interesting company. Friday I headed to Milan for the Counting Crows concert at Teatro del Verme (and to my surprise an Italian audience that knew all the words)! To cap off the trip I had a ticket for a tour to see DaVinci’s Last Supper, which was the other thing I had managed to miss all these years. I came back from that trip reenergized and remembering how wonderful life and the world outside my cave can be……

I was so busy being in the moment that I didn’t take that many pictures, but here are a few, which follow my trip in order…. May you each get to take a deep breathe and enjoy the new year!!!

And a bit of the Counting Crows concert….